Mike Ladd has been a strong presence in central Massachusetts for more than thirty years. His completely original style of writing and performing at times defies description, leaving audiences captivated. Ladd’s music weaves aggression and beauty, intensity, and subtlety into a tapestry that has earned the respect and admiration of his peers in the music industry. As a founding member of the regionally popular Chimera, the EP Coming Into Color was released in 1985 and the band appeared in an episode of the television series “Spenser For Hire”. In the 1990’s Ladd published The Auricle, an art and poetry magazine showcasing New England artists. In its short life, The Auricle won high praise in cultural circles and was used in public school English curricula. Throughout the decade of the 1990's, Ladd was a member of Critics, Cynics, Antagonists; Leslie Buck & the Change; and No We Don’t; as well as writing and performing both solo and with his own ensemble The Ladd Foundation. His first full length CD, The Storm, was critically acclaimed throughout the northeast and years after its release, The Storm sounds current and remains a beautiful and brave vision of soul and psyche. Mike Ladd is also included on The Old Vienna Tapes Vol. 1, a live showcase of artists’ performances at the famed Old Vienna Kaffeehaus; and the Ladd Foundation appears on the Iggy Pop tribute collection I Wanna Be A Stooges from Revenge Records. Mike Ladd has been the subject of numerous television and radio interviews and performances, and has acted on the theatre stage as well. In this new century, Mike Ladd was a member of the funk and R&B band The Valves through 2009 and performed with them all over New England; subsequently he fronted the rock band Wistah in 2011. Ladd released two albums with the Irish Mod band Blackstone Cúil. Ladd has written for The Journal of Music in Ireland (JMI), performs solo, and in various configurations, including the impromtu Celtic/contemporary Banda Gan Ainm (A Band With No Name).